Yen robbery case suspects in court

Sheung Wan 50‑plus million yen robbery case: police arrest 6; 4 appear in Eastern Magistrates’ Courts.

The four defendants include three Japanese men and a Mainland Chinese woman, aged 23 to 53. They are provisionally charged with one count of conspiracy to rob and were brought to court in a police vehicle.

The incident took place last Friday morning. Two employees of a Japanese company were transporting 190 million yen to a money changer in Central to exchange for Hong Kong dollars, intending to buy precious metals to profit from tax differences. As soon as they got out of the taxi, two people snatched one of their backpacks, which contained 51 million yen—about HK$2.5 million. Police the same day arrested at the airport two Japanese men believed to be the ones who stole the backpack, as well as a Mainland Chinese woman suspected of assisting in the crime. They also arrested two staff members of a virtual-asset shop in Tsim Sha Tsui. On the same day, police arrested the Japanese man who had reported the robbery, suspecting he was an inside man. In the operation, police recovered more than 11 million yen.